Prague Airport can borrow seven billion, it needs to cover losses
Last year, Václav Havel Airport ended up with an operating loss of 687 million crowns, but after most of the crisis, it has so far operated from its own resources. According to Pose, the airport received bids from ten banks in the tender.
According to him, the winning consortium offered the most advantageous drawing conditions, including interest. However, neither the Pos nor the bank representatives wanted to state their amount. The airport will be able to draw money from the framework loan until 2024, its maturity is five years.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport Jiří Pos (left), Barbara Tutass from Raiffeisenbank, Ján Lučan from ČSOB, Andrea Fiori from VÚB (right). (05/10/2021)
Pos added to the loan that the money from it would help the airport, especially in financing during this year and next year. After that, the airport chief expects a gradual improvement in the situation where the airport should operate again purely from its own resources. The airport wants to use the loan money to cover losses from the current crisis, as well as some planned investments. Pos mentioned, for example, the work on the taxiways that the airport operates the following year.
“We consider Prague Airport to be an important infrastructure of the Czech Republic and despite the difficulties experienced by all airports around the world due to the pandemic, we fully believe that Prague Airport will overcome the pandemic,” said Ján Lučan from ČSOB on why the bank decided to enter the competition.
For the investment, Prague Airport wants to pay attention to sustainability, which corresponds to the setting of loan conditions. “We see the principles of sustainable business as essential,” said Pos. According to Lučan, this is in line with ČSOB’s long-term philosophy.
Losses in the hundreds of millions
Regarding the merger of the three banks, Lučan said that due to the amount of the loan, a merger into a consortium was more appropriate. It was also compiled by some competing banks.
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According to estimates, Prague Airport should handle about four million passengers this year, and Prague Airport probably ended up in a loss of hundreds of millions of crowns, said Pos. However, according to him, the loss should be slightly lower than last year.
Vaclav Havel Prague Airport is an elevated airport in the Czech Republic. In 2019, before the covid crisis, it handled a record 17.8 million passengers. However, after the outbreak of the pandemic, the airport was hit by the air crisis and last year traffic fell by 79 percent year on year. At the same time, the airport laid off about 600 employees during the year due to the crisis and the weakening of traffic. Before the crisis, it had about 2,900 workers.
In addition to the airport, the Prague Airport group consists of subsidiaries Czech Airlines Handling and Czech Airlines Technics.